What Is Death Grips Up To?

If you have heard a Death Grips song before, you may have described the experience as shocking, unnerving, electrifying, or just plain weird.

While the group (supposedly) disbanded on July 2, 2014, they have been quite active on social media and have actually come out with an album since then. So, what are they really up to?

To give some background on the group, Death Grips started in 2010 in Sacramento, CA. Their music is a combination of hip-hop, experimental, and garage. The eccentricity they exude was palpable even in their first couple releases. The Money Store, their most popular album to date, features songs titled “Bitch Please” and “F*** That,” to give you an idea of their style. Even more shocking was their release of No Love Deep Web which had a certain male body part as the sole object of its album artwork.

Aside from these works, Death Grips has a track record of being somewhat unreliable. They have cancelled shows at major festivals such as Lollapalooza as well as the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival in 2013. Later revealed was the fact that Death Grips were not planning to show up anyway.

Since all this debauchery, Death Grips have announced disbandment, but have continued to be quite active in the music world. Rumors have been very much abound that they in fact never broke up. Clues can be seen from their (rumored) twitter account @bbpoltergiest, which was deemed real when it posted a picture of a scene from their “Inanimate Sensation” music video months before the video was released. The message “we’re going on tour” was tweeted on December 15, 2014.

More evidence that they have not broken up includes their sudden release of a free instrumental soundtrack on Soundcloud. This was called Fashion Week, with songs titled Runway J, Runway E, etc. until it spelled out downwards “JENNY DEATH WHEN.” This is in reference of a continuation of their The Powers that B studio album.

And just when it was all coming together, their CD on Amazon originally had this new album set to be released at the end of February, but then changed it to the end of 2015, and lastly (and currently as it says on the website), a December 31, 2020 release date.

Despite all this evidence, one has to wonder how reliable this could all be. As for me, I do hope that Death Grips is still together, but can I really be sure? It will take another official album release, or maybe a tour, to convince me wholeheartedly.